T-Mobile Is Said to Work With Goldman on Antitrust Divestitures

(Bloomberg) -- T-Mobile US Inc. is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to help sell assets as it seeks regulatory approval of its $26.5 billion merger with Sprint Corp., according to people familiar with the matter.

Tapping Goldman Sachs shows that the companies are moving ahead with a sale of Sprint’s Boost prepaid brand, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the process is private. They agreed to sell Boost to win clearance from the Federal Communications Commission and are also considering offloading airwaves to appease the Justice Department.

Representatives for T-Mobile, Sprint and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

While the head of the FCC has said he’ll recommend that his agency approve the deal, the companies are scrambling to win over the Justice Department, which is concerned about the deal reducing the number of major wireless carriers in the U.S. to three.

Top officials at the department want T-Mobile and Sprint to lay the groundwork for a new wireless carrier with its own network as a condition to clearing the merger, people with knowledge said last week. The companies have been considering additional concessions to win approval from Makan Delrahim, head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division. Talks with the government are continuing.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nabila Ahmed in New York at nahmed54@bloomberg.net;Scott Moritz in New York at smoritz6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, Matthew Monks, Nick Turner

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